Five ice hockey players found not guilty in Canada sexual assault case

Five Canadian Ice Hockey player accused of sexual harassment of a woman was acquitted by an Ontario judge on Thursday.

In a packaged courtroom, Justice Maria Carroccia reviewed the testimony and evidence of a highly eight -week hearing for several hours before she declared men was not guilty.

Former players for Canada’s World Junior Hockey team were accused of attacking a woman known as EM in a hotel room in which they joined a Hockey Canada Gala in London, London, London.

Justice Carrocia said EM could not find evidence of “reliable or reliable”. “Crown can not reach any of the numbers in front of me,” he added.

The main issue of the hearing was whether EM, who was 20 years old at that time, accepted every sexual action in the room that night.

For the players, lawyers claimed that he wanted men to have sex with him and believed that he gave consent.

Michael McLleod, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote, Alex Formenton and Carter Hart were players with the National Hockey League (NHL) when the allegations appeared despite playing in Europe. Only one, Mr. Hart testified in his defense.

The hearing attracted a significant interest in Canada, and many people went to court to hear that on Thursday, clerks decided that they had to open two additional flooding rooms.

Justice Carrocia, while explaining his decision, pointed out the inconsistencies in EM’s statement, including who bought a beverage that night, and said that EM’s statements reflected a “uncertain memory” that was not listed with evidence presented at the hearing.

The judge said that the woman said to the police inspectors and Hockey Canada, and that there are differences that sued $ 3.5 million ($ 2.5 million; $ 1.9 million) for an unexplained amount in 2022.

During the hearing, the crown argued that the woman’s expression was reliable, that “poisoning is not equal to unreliability” and that the inconsistencies in the statement are small.

They also argued that the woman had no motive to produce a story, and that she initially reported the allegation of attacking the police in 2018 four years ago without filed a lawsuit against Canada.

They showed that the short messages between the players are the idea of inviting Mr. McLeod to the room, and that players claimed a narrative that EM had consent to all sexual activities and claimed that they “flatten their stories”.

However, the defense lawyers, EM’s testimony, that night in the hotel room but not accused of other players sexually what they want “vocal”, he said.

He said that the evidence showed that the woman was a willing participant who later regrets, and in this case, adding video evidence that poisoning is not equal to “incapacity”, and that em did not show signs of excessive poisoning.

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